The Cartesian theater is a term coined by philosopher and cognitive scientist

Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...

to critique a persistent flaw in theories of mind, introduced in his 1991 book ''Consciousness Explained''. It mockingly describes the idea of consciousness as a centralized "stage" in the brain where perceptions are presented to an internal observer. Dennett ties this to Cartesian materialism, which he considers to be the often unacknowledged residue of René Descartes’

dualism Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another * P ...

in modern

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...

views. This model implies an

infinite regress Infinite regress is a philosophical concept to describe a series of entities. Each entity in the series depends on its predecessor, following a recursive principle. For example, the epistemic regress is a series of beliefs in which the justi ...

, as each observer would require another to perceive it, a problem Dennett argues misrepresents how consciousness actually emerges. The phrase echoes earlier skepticism from Dennett’s teacher,

Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900 – 6 October 1976) was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase " ghost in the machine". Some of Ryle's ideas in philosophy of mind have been ca ...

, who in ''The Concept of Mind'' (1949) similarly derided Cartesian dualism’s depiction of the mind as a "private theater" or "second theater."

Overview

Descartes originally claimed that

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

requires an immaterial soul, which interacts with the body via the

pineal gland The pineal gland (also known as the pineal body or epiphysis cerebri) is a small endocrine gland in the brain of most vertebrates. It produces melatonin, a serotonin-derived hormone, which modulates sleep, sleep patterns following the diurnal c ...

of the brain. Dennett says that, when the dualism is removed, what remains of Descartes' original model amounts to imagining a tiny theater in the brain where a

homunculus A homunculus ( , , ; "little person", : homunculi , , ) is a small human being. Popularized in 16th-century alchemy and 19th-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has root ...

(small person), now physical, performs the task of observing all the sensory data projected on a screen at a particular instant, making the decisions and sending out commands (see Homunculus argument). The term "Cartesian theater" was brought up in the context of the multiple drafts model that Dennett posits in '' Consciousness Explained'' (1991):

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Richard Chappell on "The Cartesian Theater"
__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartesian Theater Arguments in philosophy of mind Consciousness Mental content

Overview

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